


Conjunctions

by SharpestRose



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-01
Updated: 2011-07-01
Packaged: 2017-10-20 22:12:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/217610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SharpestRose/pseuds/SharpestRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The meaning of symbols.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Conjunctions

"Come _on_ , don't be so seri - no, wait, that's me," Sirius laughed at his own rather abysmal and use-worn joke. "So _dour_ , Moony."

Remus tapped one finger against the tabletop, wishing that he had learnt the knack of raising one eyebrow ironically at some stage. As it was, he just shook his head.

"I'm not _dour_ , idiot. I'm just... you're going to catch your death, posing like that. It _is_ winter, you know.."

Sirius was standing in the middle of the flat's small kitchen with his shirt pulled open, displaying a patch of tender-looking reddened skin and a sigil of black ink tattooed onto said skin. It shouldn't have been a surprise, really, Sirius had been doodling the design on margins and old newspapers and the occasional unsuspecting wall for weeks now, delicate quill-curves and the thick clumsiness of muggle felt-tipped pens.

Remus had always been quietly awed by the way Sirius inhabited himself. He _did_ things to his body, learnt how to transform it and paid to have it marked and decorated with ink under the skin and wore the clothes that showed everything off to best advantage. Half the time Remus didn't even remember to get a haircut, the way Sirius behaved seemed exotic and strange.

Sirius was, at that moment, wearing a pout such as few have ever seen.

"You know, you of all people should _not_ attempt a puppy-dog face, when we both know for a fact your inner pooch would be less likely to advertise doggie treats than it would be to attempt to shag a car." Remus walked past Sirius and put his cup and saucer in the sink, trying very hard to look serene and not simply like someone trying very very hard not to laugh and cry at the same time. "Don't look so wounded, Padfoot. It's... it's lovely."

Dammit. Remus blinked and blinked again and tried to smile so he wouldn't get soppy and stupid.

They'd found the picture some time in seventh year, in one of Remus' books about astronomy. He knew all the chapters about moon phases off by heart, naturally, but had never looked at the rest of the contents. Despite a voracious appetite for knowledge, he'd touched those particular volumes as infrequently as necessity allowed. But Sirius had an eternal capacity for being bored, and had needed something to read. And there it had been, in the corner of a page full of words too big to have much meaning. Straight lines capped by a curve, a simple and elegant little squiggle from alchemy and sky-symbolism.

"Look at this," Sirius had said, elbowing Remus in the ribs to get his attention. Sirius had never really learnt the fine art of not injuring people casually. "Means conjunction, it says here. _Between the sun and the moon, as between lovers_. The sun's an absolutely crap star, you know. They could have picked a more interesting one for such a cool little symbol."

"Got any in mind?" Remus replied, not looking up from his own reading. "Andromeda's not a star, but I don't know that I'd say no to conjunctioning with her. Or Regulus, even. Your brother is getting quite the reputation as a cassanova."

Sirius had looked torn between amusement and annoyance. "Worrying that you've gotten four Hufflepuffs up the duff within one school term isn't exactly the dry cool wit of a seasoned heartbreaker. And the little snot gets off without a clip on the ear, because they were all good little pureblooded idiots with fat pompous fathers. You know, sometimes I wonder what would happen if -"

"I'm not your rebellion, Sirius," Remus said in the same idle voice he'd used before. "And your parents would probably get rid of the problem by arranging for a nice new wolfskin rug in the downstairs study."

"If they tried it, I'd do a mass Avada on them," Sirius said in a grumbling, petulant voice. "Bloody wankers, the whole lot of them."

"Mmm, nice to see you're not entirely different to your family, then."

"Oi. Look, anyway, don't you think this picture's great? If I was an international mastermind criminal, I'd put this on my calling cards. It could be my tradmark, y'know."

Remus nodded in an infuriatingly placid fashion. "Yes, Sirius."

Considering how impulsive Sirius could be, it almost seemed stranger that it had taken him two and a half years to get the tattoo than the fact he'd had it done at all.

Now Remus pulled himself back out of the memory and smiled shakily at Sirius.

" _Lovely_?" Sirius' tone was one of disgust. "Not _wild and dangerous and worldly_ , oh no. That Sirius Black, with his motorcycle and artfully torn wardrobe? Oh, yes, he's a _lovely_ chap. Especially that tattoo, what a sweet little thing it is!" At the same time as saying the words, Sirius awkwardly drew Remus in against the side of his shoulder, keeping the design clear of contact, and held him tenderly.

"I've never cared about my looks one way or the other, really," said Remus between hearty gulps of Sirius' scent. "Things happen to my body every month, there's always some new scar somewhere, but it... it just _was_. Then there's you, gorgeous reckless you... you and your black fur and your black ink, who makes your body into something like a love-letter. For the first time I _do_ care about how I look. I wish I was beautiful and perfect, because that's what you deserve."

"But Moony." Sirius sounded very confused, holding Remus out at arm's length and staring at him in a flummoxed fashion. "You _are_."

Remus sniffed and shook his head, an ironic little smile forming on his mouth. "I'm about as good-looking as you are 'lovely', you git."

"Well, I'm not saying that a few tattoos wouldn't, you know, spruce things up a bit..."

Remus laughed, at patted Sirius on the shoulder. "Keep dreaming, my dear. You'll be best friends with Severus Snape before I have a tattoo."

Sirius sighed. "Puns aside, Remus, you really are much too serious for your own good."

"Something that is true for you as well, but _only_ in the punning sense."

"Must be why we get along so well, then."


End file.
